Lionel Messi returns for Barcelona after transfer saga as Ronald Koeman's side beat Gimnastic in friendly

Lionel Messi in action for Barcelona for the first time since this summer's high-profile transfer saga
AFP via Getty Images
Ben Hayward12 September 2020

Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho were all on target for Barcelona on Saturday as Lionel Messi returned to action for the first time since almost leaving the Catalan club this summer.

Dembele, who made just nine appearances in an injury-hit 2019-20 campaign, opened the scoring for Barca after just five minutes against Segunda B side Nastic Tarragona at the Johan Cruyff Stadium.

And Messi, back in a Barca shirt for the first time since the summer saga which saw him close to quitting the Blaugrana, allowed Griezmann to take the penalty which made it 2-0 after 17 minutes.

Javi Bonilla pulled one back with a fine goal after half an hour, but Coutinho – back at Barcelona after a season-long loan and treble win at Bayern Munich – made it 3-1 with another spot-kick six minutes into the second half.

New Barca coach Ronald Koeman fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation for his first game in charge and, as he had said on Friday, gave his players 45 minutes each in the all-Catalan match-up.

Messi played the first 45 minutes, in which 17-year-old Pedri made his debut for the Blaugrana. In the second half, Portuguese winger Francisco Trincao also came on and impressed in his first appearance for the club.

Midfielder Carles Alena started after returning from his loan at Real Betis, while young American winger Konrad de la Fuente and 20-year-old Riqui Puig played the second half.

Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal were left out of the squad and could leave Barca in the coming days. Ansu Fati missed out through injury and Miralem Pjanic, who joined from Juventus in June, has just returned to training after he tested positive for Covid-19 last month.

Barcelona kick off in the third weekend of LaLiga, which started on Saturday, due to their participation in the Champions League quarter-finals last month.

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